Renaming of Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna Award after Dhyan Chand
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
National
- Published
9th Aug, 2021
-
Context
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been renamed as Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
About Dhyan Chand
- He was the first superstar of hockey and considered a wizard or magician of the game.
- Under his leadership, India won three consecutive Olympic hockey gold medals:
- Amsterdam 1928
- Los Angeles 1932
- Berlin 1936
- He amazed the watching public with sublime skills, intricate dribbling and gluttonous scoring ability.
- India beat hosts the Netherlands 3-0 in 1928 final, the United States by a scarcely-believable margin of 24-1 in the 1932 gold medal match, while Germany by 8-1 in the 1936 decider.
- In all, Dhyan Chand played 12 Olympic matches and scored 33 goals.
- His birthday, on August 29, is celebrated as National Sports Day and the President gives away the Khel Ratna, Arjuna Awards and the other honourson this day.
- The Capital’s National Stadium was renamed Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
Major Dhyan Chand KhelRatna Award in Sports and Games
- It was formerly known as Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna.
- This is the highest sporting honour of the Republic of India.
- It is awarded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, annually.
- The award was instituted in 1991–1992, which is given for the performance by a sportsperson in a year.
- Based on the suggestions provided by the award selection committee, the Ministry revised the criteria in February 2015 to consider the performance over four years.
- A twelve-member committee evaluates the performances at various International events like Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games.
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